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To a certain extent Leslie is that already, interrupted the mother. She saw that the girl found it difficult to reply, that her lips were trembling, and her eyes shining through tears.
My dear child has the best education I could give her, continued Mrs. Gilroy. Please, Llewellyn, take a chair.
The boy flung himself down on the nearest seat.
Mr. Parker, I have just been telling my children of your great kindness, continued Mrs. Gilroy. Leslie is, of course, delighted. There is nothing in the world she would like better than to go
through one of the universities. She wishes, by and by, to earn her bread as a teacher; and, if she does that, it is essential that she should have the best education that can be procured.
Well, maam, if thats your whim, its mine also, said Mr. Parker. I am only gratified to be able to please you in any way. This is a debt I owe, maam; so theres no obligation on your part, nor on yours either, Miss Leslie.
A debt you owe? said Mrs. Gilroy, in some astonishment.
Well, you see, it was this way, said Parker. Gilroy and I were lads together in the same school. I dont mean to say that we were exactly in the same set, for Gilroy belonged to gentlefolks, whereas I well, my father kept a grocers shop. I always had a wonderful admiration for Gilroy; for, though he was an aristocrat, as they call them, he had no high and mighty haw-haw ideas, and he was good to me, and wouldnt let the other fellows trample on me not he, not he. And one day I got out of my depth before I could swim quite well, and he pulled me to shore. He made nothing of it; but, as a matter of fact, he saved my life. So, after that, there was nothing I wouldnt do for him; and when we both left school, and Gilroy was going to one of your fine universities and I was off to the colonies, we had a supper together, and at the end of the supper we made a bargain one with the other. Gilroy said to me, Parker, nobody knows what the chances of life are. It is possible that you may come back some day a rich man; if so, dont forget that we were chums, that we were lads together, and if you can do a kindness to me or mine, do it. I am an unmarried man, and so are you. We are both young fellows on the threshold of life; but if ever I should have a wife and children, and I myself should be beneath the sod, you will look after them for me, Parker. It shall be a bargain between us, and I will do the same for your wife and children should the position be reversed.
Those were his words, maam, said Mr. Parker, standing up as he spoke, and I never forgot them never. They followed me all through the years; and when I heard of his death I felt there was nothing in the world for it but to wind up my affairs, and to hurry back as fast as possible. There were Gilroys bonds that he had laid upon me, and I had to see to it that I obeyed the last words he ever said to me. Night after night Id see him standing by my bedside; the light in his eyes seemed to shine into mine, and I felt again the way he gripped my hand. Well, maam, it has pleased the Almighty to take my wife and child away from me, and I am here at your service, and with the orders of your dead husband to do what I can for you and yours. My dear, added Parker, suddenly turning and looking at Leslie, you have a look of your father, the best fellow that ever breathed. You must let me, to a certain extent, be a father to you. My own wife is dead, and my my girl, too. Aye, the girl was bonny. Ill show you her picture some day, Miss Leslie.
Leslie did not reply; but the tears which had been coming to her eyes now rolled down her cheeks. Mr. Parker noticed her emotion and was not ill pleased with it.
You go to college if you wish it, young lady, he said, and I hold the purse-strings. When you want money you just write to me, and dont bother that good mother of yours overmuch. So that affair is settled. Now, to turn to the others. This boy, for instance; he is Gilroys boy and worthy of his father. What do you mean to do, sir? Do you want a university life, too?
Oh, if you would only give it to him! said Leslie. Mother says you are rich, and if it is really as you say, and father laid his bond upon you, it does not seem too hard. Oh, if you would only do it!
Her whole face lit up, her eyes shone, and she laid her hand on Mr. Parkers arm.
Id do anything in the world for you, my dear; so if it is your wish, you have only to say the word. The boy looks intelligent, too. In Australia we would give a boy like that a bit of the bush to clear out, and a house to build, and we would teach him the rough essentials of life, and leave out the polishings; but Australia is Australia, and England is England; and as it seems to be all the development of the brain here
And the body, too, said Mrs. Gilroy. You cannot say that we do not develop the bodies of our lads as long as we have football and cricket.
We have those, too, in Australia, and we manage to beat you once in a while, said Parker, with a slight twinkle in his eyes. But what does the lad want himself that is the question?